


there'll be no more after me

by Magnus (Magnus_Rushesin)



Category: Critical Role (Web Series)
Genre: also you can interpret the caleb stuff as romantic if you want i left it kinda vague., beau and molly arent romantic tho theyre mlm/wlw solidarity and if u suggest otherwise ill barf, everyone needs to say goodbye, this is me getting closure
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-18
Updated: 2018-07-18
Packaged: 2019-06-12 15:00:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,061
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15342375
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Magnus_Rushesin/pseuds/Magnus
Summary: mollymauk tealeaf is dead. he waits, alone in the dark, for something to happen.Something does happen. His family comes to say goodbye.





	there'll be no more after me

**Author's Note:**

> this is mostly just me writing this to get closure and tell beauregard that i love her and that i know she'll succeed.

Mollymauk Tealeaf does not like to be alone. Mollymauk Tealeaf does not like the dark. So, when he opens his eyes to find himself alone and in total darkness, it’s disorienting to say the least. He fights back the panic by closing his eyes and going over what he knows, for sure.

He knows he is Mollymauk Tealeaf. He knows he has friends, they’re waiting for him somewhere. Why were they waiting? He knows something is wrong. He knows he shouldn’t be where he is, and yet it feels familiar somehow. 

The darkness around him doesn’t change. For hours, he sits(is he sitting? It feels more like floating), trying to remember everything. He remembers chasing something, he remembers Keg, he remembers a plan, and a fight, and Lorenzo. And then it hits him. 

Mollymauk Tealeaf is dead.

He laughs when he realizes it. He doesn’t know why. He knew this would come one day soon. He had thought he’d be afraid or sad or angry when it finally came. But all he can think about is how  _ funny  _ it is, how poetically  _ Mollymauk  _ it is for him to have died like he did. 

Eventually, the laughter fades. And all that’s left is an overwhelming sense of  _ “What now?” _ . This can’t be his afterlife, it was so  _ boring. _

Nothing happens, for a bit. And then he hears it.

“Molly?” a timid, shrill voice penetrates the silence. He turns around, and he sees Nott, sitting anxiously and holding her flask as she speaks, her eyes fixated on the body lying next to her.  _ Molly’s  _ body. “I don’t know if you can hear me, but… I wanted to say thank you. I feel like I never told you that. But you were nice to me and you made me laugh and now, you’re gone, and I really miss you, and I’m sorry i never told you before.” Molly smiles, and he kneels down next to Nott and puts a hand on her face. He wipes away a tear that falls down her face, and presses a gentle kiss to her forehead. He doesn’t know if she can feel it, but it’s all he can do to comfort her. After a moment, she takes a swig of her flask, and disappears as she stands up.

It’s only a moment before Caleb appears instead, a somber look on his face. He’s kneeling next to Molly’s body, and he takes one of Molly’s hands and grips it tightly. He doesn’t say anything for a moment. Then he clears his throat and begins, his voice hoarse and tired.

“I’m no good with words, Mollymauk, you know that.” He hesitates for a moment. “I don’t know what to say to you. You always do that, you know. I. I don’t know what I’m going to do without you, Mollymauk.”  Caleb falls down to his knees as tears start rolling down his face. Molly wraps his arms around Caleb, holding him tightly and fiercely. 

They stay like that for a few moments, and then Mollymauk pulls away before pressing a kiss to Caleb’s forehead, as he did for Nott. Caleb wipes his eyes, and stands up, turning and beginning to walk away.

Before he disappears, he turns back and says “Goodbye, Mollymauk. I am sorry we cannot bring you back.”

A few moments pass in the darkness. And then he sees Beau. She looks exhausted, still covered in blood from the battle. Her eyes are red and angry, and he knows she’s trying so hard not to cry. She sighs and sits down next to him, running her hands over the patterns on his coat.

“Why’d you have to do that, asshole?” She said, her voice shaky. “You can’t just leave like that. We need you. Fjord, Jester, Yasha, they need you to come rescue them. Caleb needs you, Nott needs you.” Her voice gets quiet as she hesitates, and her next sentence is barely a whisper. “I need you.” As she says it, she curls in on herself, her hands balling into fists clinging to his jacket. He can see her shaking with tears, and he puts a hand on her back as she cries. Through her sobs, she starts muttering, talking more than she usually does, as if she’s trying to get out every thought as soon as it comes through her mind.

“I’m sorry I wasn’t able to protect you. How are we gonna get them back without you, Molly?”

“You’ll be okay,” he whispers. “You’re a strong girl, you’ll figure something out.”

“I don’t know if I’m strong enough for this,” she says, almost as if she could hear him. She stayed there for a little bit, her forehead resting on Molly’s bodies chest, her hands holding tightly onto his coat.

“I love you, Mollymauk,” she said quietly, hoarsely, like she was confessing a secret to him. “You’re my family.”

“I love you too,” he whispers back to her as she sits up. She starts to get up, but pauses for a moment. She runs her hand over his coat once more, and she begins to take it off of him.

“I hope you don’t mind if I borrow this for a little bit,” she says. “I’ll bring it back, mostly. I promise.” Then she got up and left, taking the coat with her.

_ What the hell does she mean by ‘mostly’?  _ Mollymauk wondered.

It wasn’t very long before she came back. When she did, he noticed the hem was shorter, and it looked messily torn. And then he saw the fabric tied around her waist, the familiar and ostentatious patterns contrasting the rest of her fairly simple outfit.

“I’m sorry,” she said, putting the cloak back on him. “I just wanted to, y’know, keep part of you with me. A souvenir, I guess.” He smiled.

“You look great.” He didn’t know if she could hear him. He kind of hoped she couldn’t, he couldn’t let this asshole hear him  _ complementing  _ her, gods no. 

She sat there for a moment, not saying anything. She just looked at him, exhausted and sad and lonely. He kneeled next to her and pressed a kiss into her forehead.

“Fuck you, Mollymauk,” She said, laughing softly, trying hard not to cry again.

“Fuck you too, Beauregard.”

“Goodbye.”

“Goodbye.” And, after a moment. “Good luck. Kill those bastards for me.”

**Author's Note:**

> the title and is from Deuteronomy 2:10 by the mountain goats. the full lyric that i picked is "I have no fear of anyone, I am dumb and wild and free. I am a flightless bird, and there'll be no more after me." which is a very mollymauk lyric.


End file.
